‘Uncle Ed, are you down here?’ Alice-Miranda called as she wove her way through the maze of furniture. Millie was right behind her.

The girl marvelled at the strange display and shuddered at all the stuffed animals. ‘It’s like an antique shop. A really freaky one.’

Matron Bright had grabbed Alice-Miranda as soon as she arrived and explained that her father had turned up at the house very early that morning and gone to the cellar with her uncle. Detective Freeman had arrived about an hour ago and requested access down there too. The matron hadn’t seen the three of them emerge and believed that they were all still downstairs.

The rest of the Barn Owls were directed to jobs for the fair, but Millie had rushed off with Alice-Miranda. The girls reached the vault but the door was closed.

‘I told you I saw them in the police car. You don’t think they could have been arrested, do you?’ asked Millie.

‘Of course not,’ said Alice-Miranda, but she wasn’t really sure.

Millie pointed at the door. ‘Do you know the combination?

Alice-Miranda stared at the dial. She shook her head.

‘Try four, three, two, one,’ Millie suggested.

Alice-Miranda spun the dial but the door remained firmly shut.

‘Maybe the other way around,’ Millie said.

‘I think that’s too obvious,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘Maybe it’s someone’s birthday? I’ll try Daddy’s.’

It was another dead end.

‘What about the year this place was founded?’ Millie said. ‘That could make sense.’

Alice-Miranda nodded. ‘Tomorrow the house is one hundred and fifty years old so that would make the foundation date … 1864,’ Alice-Miranda counted off the clicks.

There was a clank as the bolts slid back.

‘You did it!’ Millie beamed. Alice-Miranda grabbed the handle. Millie did too, and together the girls pulled the heavy door open.

‘Whoa!’ Millie said as she spied the underground art gallery.

Alice-Miranda drew in a sharp breath. ‘Oh my goodness! That’s it! It’s the painting I saw last night.’

‘With the men, in the van?’ Millie said. ‘But how did it get in here?’

‘I don’t know.’ Alice-Miranda thought about it. ‘There must be passage from the summer house.’

Millie scanned the walls, searching for something to indicate a doorway.

Alice-Miranda studied the recent addition carefully and looked at the signature in the bottom right-hand corner.

‘I can’t believe this,’ she gasped.

Millie was busily running her hands over the bare bricks. ‘What are you talking about?’ She ran back to where Alice-Miranda was kneeling in front of the portrait.

‘The artist. It’s Uncle Ed,’ she said.

‘That’s ridiculous. Has anything of his been stolen?’ Millie asked.

Alice-Miranda nodded. Her parents had told her about a theft at The Metropolitan Museum in New York a couple of months ago. One of Uncle Ed’s paintings was among several works that had gone missing. But how did it end up here?

‘We need to find that passageway,’ Millie said.

Alice-Miranda nodded. ‘I’ve got an idea. If anyone’s going to know about secret passageways, it’s Mr Freeman.’

She grabbed Millie’s hand and together the girls raced upstairs, leaving the doors open in their wake. They charged up the back staircase to the first floor and ran along the hall. Fortunately, the apartments each had the name of the resident on a plaque on the door.

Alice-Miranda found Mr Freeman’s name, knocked loudly and then waited, jiggling up and down impatiently with Millie beside her. ‘Mr Freeman, are you there?’ she called after a few moments.

There was a shuffling sound on the other side of the door.

‘Mr Freeman, I need to ask you a question. It’s very important.’

She heard the lock turn and the door opened. Alice-Miranda barged inside with Millie behind her.

Donald mumbled, ‘What’s the matter? What’s this all about?’

‘Mr Freeman, I can’t remember if I told you earlier in the week that Uncle Ed is here cataloguing Granny’s art collection so that it can be sold,’ she began to explain. ‘Well, we’ve discovered some very odd things down there and I need to ask you a question.’

Donald sat in his armchair heavily, jolting a little crystal bowl of gold-wrapped chocolates on the table beside him.

Millie looked towards the noise.

‘Have one,’ the old man offered.

But neither girl was in the mood for sweets. ‘No, thank you,’ said Alice-Miranda. Millie shook her head.

‘Mr Freeman, the other day, you said that you and Harry could get into the house without anyone knowing. How did you do it?’

‘I told you it doesn’t matter,’ Donald muttered.

‘But it does. I think my father and Uncle Ed are in big trouble and I need to know. Your daughter was driving them away in her police car when we got here. Last night I saw some men near the summer house. They were carrying a painting and then they disappeared.’

Donald Freeman looked as if the wind had been sucked out of his sails.

‘What men?’

‘One was called Jezza and the other was Nigel,’ Alice-Miranda replied.

‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ Mr Freeman snapped.

‘Is there a secret passageway to the cellars?’ Alice-Miranda begged. ‘Please. I have to know.’

‘No! Now off you go, the pair of you, before I call the matron,’ Donald stood up and ushered the girls out the door.